I’ve notice with some regret the increasing number of comments saying as the Stags recent performances have been “Shite” – Geoff Stelling Sky Sports - there is no point in carrying on the Anglo Galician Cup. I sincerely hope it is not any of the Porcos players who are saying that by the way. Some even go as far as to suggest the Porcos look to Germany for another team to play. We didn’t fight two World Wars and win one World Cup to have our mates abandon us to play some Bavarian Bullshitters just because we can’t hold on to a lead or even get a lead. We’ve started this thing so we have to go with it wherever it takes us:
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Granted the past few performances from the Stags have not been up to snuff. I’m not blaming the beer as the Porcos lad’s quaff the occasional crème de menthe too. But things change. I’m sure David Moyes thought Man U’s reign would continue. Ha ha. The Stags are currently negotiating with a certain Sheik Yer Boutie to sponsor us with unlimited cash. The football may not improve but there will be more in the beer kitty. And there’s the rub. This thing is about much more than football thought that is important. I myself played for 15 minutes in the first ever AG Cup. I’m much too old to be running around a footie pitch now but I remember the game as if it were at the Riverside. I hadn’t kicked a ball for about 20 years and when a short pass was rolled in my direction I expected to pull the trigger to see the ball nestling in the top corner of the onion bag past a frankly bemused Van Damme only to completely miss my kick and land on my arse. The gentlemanly Sergio picked me up but even he couldn’t resist a titter. Still the Stags won that one. Get in. So times change. To me the music, the beer drinking and general camaraderie is just as important now. I’ve met some fantastic people who I count on as my friends, plus Argie. And the cast list continues to grow. Our conversations continue over the whole period between games be it attempting to understand the latest philosophic post on the blog, making music with the cool dudes of Galicia or commenting on the latest Steel City derby in Pontevedra. As Neil Young said “It’s all one song” and long may we sing it.
Boroman